“Now this unbinding and liberating of ourselves and our structures and our hurting world will take all the resilience we can muster. It will require us to set aside our disbelief and our divisions, our attachments to the things of this world, and maybe our attachment to the way we think things ought to function.” - Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe
The Most Rev. Sean Walter Rowe, Head of The Episcopal Church (National)
The Most Rev. Sean Walter Rowe (born February 16, 1975 in Sharon, PA) is Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He is the Chief Pastor and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as Chair of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.
Presiding Bishop Rowe was installed as the 28th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church on November 1, 2024. He was elected to a nine-year term and confirmed at the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Louisville, KY on June 26, 2024. He was previously Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania from 2007 to 2024, as well as Provisional Bishop of Bethlehem from 2014 to 2018 and Provisional Bishop of Western New York from 2019 to 2024.
He was the youngest Episcopal priest in the United States at the time of his ordination in 2000, and later became the youngest serving bishop (at the age of 32), and the youngest ever Presiding Bishop (at the age of 49).
On November 6, 2024, the day after the 2024 United States Presidential Election, Bishop Rowe sent a letter to members of the Episcopal Church, stating "We are Christians who support the dignity, safety, and equality of women and LGBTQ+ people as an expression of our faith", adding "I pray that President Trump and his administration will do the same".